The Thaw Is On With Infrequent Winter Visits

The sustained winter chill is over- at least for now. Very mild temperatures will overall be pretty widespread across the eastern half of the nation as a pattern change sets up.

There is a much lower chance of Old Man Winter locking on and producing lasting below average temperatures and continuous bouts of snow. The weather pattern last week across the Great Lakes and Midwest will soon be a distant memory after portions of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan saw more than a foot of snow.

A ridge of high pressure is setting up off the southeastern US and beginning to take hold. A warm front is shooting northeastward across the Midwest and Ohio Valley allowing for well above average temperatures the next couple days. After a brief cool shot, we’ll be right back to the mild weather.

Temperatures on Thursday will likely top 15-25 degrees above average. Temperatures in the Deep South and Tennessee Valley will get well into the 70s in spots Temperatures in the Ohio Valley and southern Great Lakes should warm into the 50s and 60s. Southern New England and the Mid Atlantic should reach into the 50s by Thursday.

High temperatures push into the 60s across the southern half of Ohio

The snow should melt across much of the region if there is snow cover on the ground. The big piles will be slightly reduced with many puddles and little streams of water.

Warm But Rainy

A low pressure system will help to pull some of the warm air northward, but it will also allow for plenty of moisture to develop. Widespread rain is expected across a good chunk of the mild temperature area. Rain is likely from Little Rock to Nashville, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Zanesville and New York City. The most significant rain will spread across the Ohio and Tennessee Valley. This is where spots of 1-2″ are pretty likely. This will likely cause isolated flooding issues.

After the cold front moves through at the end of the work week it will setup a few days with temperatures back to near average or even below average in spots. This will only last through the weekend or early next week warmth will build across the Southeast and shift northward. There are some signs where the next blast of warm air will be even more impressive the middle of next week.

Temperatures will generally stay above average for the near future across the East. This model below shows very mild air from Texas through the Great Lakes and New England. The image below is for not this coming, but next Friday the 23rd.

Chilly temperatures take over for much of the Plains and West. There are not strong signs of any major cold though. That might change for the end of the month. We’ll just have to wait and see in a little bit.

About Brian Ivey

Brian is the President of Neoweather and has be one of the leaders of the organization since joining in 2011. Brian graduated with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Kent State University and meteorology from Mississippi State University. Brian worked as a meteorologist and reporter in Youngstown and interned at Cleveland TV stations WKYC and WEWS. He loves Cleveland sports and enjoys going to games. You can also find him trying new spots to eat, traveling and being active outside.